TTC board looks at what to do when extreme weather hits

After heavy rain in July and heavy snow in February battered the TTC's infrastructure, its board has decided it will look at new plans to prepare for extreme weather.

At its city hall meeting on Wednesday, the TTC board reviewed a report that outlined ways to minimize disruptions when extreme weather hits, and will plan based on the city's latest climate projections for Toronto.

The board also decided the TTC will work with city staff on a review of winter maintenance operations to ensure the "resilience of TTC operations" remains a top priority and it will continue to work with city agencies and divisions to find ways to keep the service running during severe weather events.

Coun. Jamaal Myers, chair of the TTC board, said the board will look at "technologies and innovations" of other cities to see how they have coped with extreme weather.

"Everybody recognizes that this is coming. We all saw what happened last summer when the stations were flooded due to extreme rain," Myers said.

"If the system is shut down, it's of no use to anyone."

Coun. Josh Matlow, a member of the board, said the city and the TTC need to accept the current realities of climate change.

"Precipitation has a big impact on the functionality and the reliability of our system and I want to see the TTC move on this as quickly as possible," Matlow said.

"I don't want to go through another winter like this where, because we have open cut areas of our tracks, the system just stops working when it snows. That's not acceptable," he said.

"We live in a Canadian city. We have to predict that it's going to snow once in a while and we need to be prepared."

Matlow said Toronto is expected to see more severe storms due to climate change and it needs to prepare accordingly. 

"When the infrastructure can't handle the weather, then the system shuts down. We need to make sure that we're prepared for virtually anything because even when it's really bad outside, people still need to get to work in school."

Matlow also said the provincial and federal governments need to commit to funding the capital needs of Toronto's transit system as part of extreme weather planning.

TTC board needs to step up, advocate says

Chloe Tangpongprush, spokesperson for transit advocacy group TTCriders, asked the board for winter clearing standards for surface transit stops. The current standard is that there will be an attempt to clear bus and streetcar stops within 48 hours after a major snowfall.

"That's just not good enough," Tangpongprush said.

Tangpongprush said the TTC needs to find money to find clear bus and streetcar stops more quickly.

"The conditions that Torontonians had to face in February were unacceptable," she said.

Tangpongprush told the board that it needs to step up on the issue. 

"As your report before you outlines today, climate change will continue to wreak havoc on the transit system and on our infrastructure in general. Transit riders in these events cannot be stranded and abandoned for days after a major snowfall like what we saw in February of this year," she said.

"Just because the city is snowed in, just because the city is frozen, doesn't mean that riders don't have anywhere to go."

She said many transit riders are essential workers, such as doctors, nurses, care workers, and they need to get work regardless of the weather.

"They can't choose to work from home. We need to make sure that the transit system remains operating in inclement weather."

According to report, Toronto experienced its highest annual precipitation levels last year, surpassing the previous record set in 2008 by nine per cent and exceeding the 30-year average by more than 30 per cent.  

On July 15 and 16 of last year, when the city received more than 115 millimetres of rain within 24 hours, there was flooding at 15 subway stations. 

Nine streetcar routes were disrupted, causing delays ranging from 38 to 59 minutes per route. Fifty-five per cent of affected routes experienced water pooling along the right of way, 22 per cent experienced leakage into vehicles, and 22 per cent were indirectly impacted due to flood-stranded vehicles obstructing their routes. 

There were also power outages at the TTC's Mount Dennis, Queensway and McNicoll garages. 

Thirty-four bus routes were disrupted, causing an average delay of 1.5 hours across all affected routes. 

During the extreme snowfall from Feb. 13 to 17, subway service stopped for 18 hours on Line 1 from Lawrence to Bloor, primarily due to loss of traction power from excessive accumulation of snow.

Delays continued on Line 1 for an another eight hours after the snow stopped falling due to blowing snow from an open field at Wilson Yard. Service on Line 2 was halted between Woodbine to Kennedy for 18 hours. 

Thirteen streetcar routes were affected, with an average delay of about 30 minutes across all affected streetcar routes. 

The snow disrupted 100 bus routes, resulting in an average delay of about one hour across all affected bus routes. Forty per cent of delays were attributed to buses stuck in snow. An additional 30 per cent of delays were due to bus collisions, while 20 per cent were a result of bus diversions caused by blocked roadways.

After already seeing record precipitation levels last year, the amount of rain the city could see in a single day is expected to increase by 27 percent by the end of the century, the report says.